Chapter Text
Life in Pikarigaoka after Christmas felt as normal as life could be. Tsubasa had to accept that things would never feel like they were before the Phantom Empire attacked but she had to admit she was thankful she was able to celebrate New Years without worrying about a Saiark attacking the shrine (although the fortune she drew didn’t inspire confidence for the days ahead). And yet she still refused to leave her house without her PreChan Mirror.
So far, Pikarigaoka enjoyed a full month without any sightings of the sunglasses-clad monsters.
Tsubasa hummed happily to herself as she skipped down the sidewalk of the local shopping district. The cold hadn’t ceased just yet but that just meant she had an excuse to wear her big light pink coat with a peter pan collar closed up with heart-shaped buttons. Her furry blue earmuffs were both cute and fashionable! Even if she didn’t attract any attention, at least she was wearing something she liked.
Everyone around her was happy, too. Most people were just going about their business as usual but Tsubasa could recognize some of her classmates among the crowd. There seemed to be a longer line outside the Omori Gohan than usual but there couldn’t be anything going on, could there? She hadn’t heard anything about a sale. Also… why were most of the people in this line women? Traffic didn’t seem to be moving fast so maybe they were backed up?
“Oh, hello there, Tsubasa-chan!” Yuko’s voice snapped Tsubasa out of her thoughts. Her smile was as warm as it ever was, making Tsubasa feel uplifted just by her presence. A cooler-looking thing with a green strap was slung across her shoulder; Tsubasa could guess it was for deliveries based on the logo clearly visible on the bag. How could she mistake that green bowl of rice for anything else at this point? “Have you gotten used to Pikarigaoka by now?”
Tsubasa winced. She did not need to be reminded of the numerous times she got lost even while using a map in the early days— if it weren’t for people like Yuko and Megumi, Tsubasa was certain she’d still be wandering around Pikarigaoka (Megumi was still A Lot though)!
“Y-yeah, I’m getting the hang of things! Thank you again for helping me around, Yuko-chan!” Tsubasa said. She was getting used to using Yuko’s given name but it still felt surreal to be on first name business so quickly. “Um… are you having a sale today or something? The line outside is longer than usual.” Tsubasa figured it was better to ask sooner rather than later.
Yuko took a quick glance over to the line and muttered “oh” before turning her attention back to Tsubasa. “Ah, not that I’m aware of. I’m sure everything’s fine, though. We’re probably just extra popular today! I should probably get back and help before my parents are overwhelmed,” Yuko said as she began walking away. She turned around and waved to Tsubasa. “I’ll see you later! Have a nice day, Tsubasa-chan!”
“You too!” Tsubasa said, waving back to Yuko. She managed a smile as she watched Yuko enter the Omori Gohan. Having such a friendly classmate sure was nice, even if she wasn’t sure they considered them friends just yet. Her friends in Tokyo talked with her every night over the Cure Line’s group chat and that was good enough for her. It wasn’t like she had to fight any more monsters alone, anyway.
It’d still take her a while to plan things without accounting for a monster attack, though. She’d gotten far too used to that.
Tsubasa continued on her way, deciding to just take in her peaceful surroundings. She eventually made her way to the riverbank. It was a nice, quiet place to enjoy reading in peace. A girl with magenta hair sat next to a boy with a red hoodie— Tsubasa knew she couldn’t mistake these two for anyone else. What were they doing here? Talking? Reading? Tsubasa took a step forward, mouth opening to say something.
“Seiji… I…” Megumi trailed off. Tsubasa could feel her heart being torn asunder— something she’d been familiar with since she was nine years old and crushing on a guy from her school’s baseball club. She knew deep down what was going on between them; this was a confession. A private conversation that she shouldn’t be eavesdropping on.
Tsubasa ran off before she could hear Megumi say anything else. She headed home, trying to hold back the flood of tears already pricking the corners of her eyes. She knew this was coming so why did it still hurt so much?
She spent that evening watching dramas with a full tub of ice cream in hand.
Tsubasa hadn’t stopped sulking as she quietly made her way into the classroom the next morning. She walked in such a way that she hoped she wouldn’t be noticed as she took her seat, letting out a sigh as she sat down. She stole only the briefest of glances to where Seiji’s desk sat. The air that he was giving off was quite… glum? Shouldn’t he be happy that he and Megumi were now a couple? They were quite close by all appearances and he’d confessed his feelings to her yesterday, hadn’t he?
So why was he seeming so melancholy?
“Ah, young love can be so bittersweet,” Yuko remarked as she sat down. Tsubasa noted that she had this sort of wistful expression; she recalled seeing Yuko near Seiji almost as often as Megumi so it’d make sense she’d know what happened.
“Um… is Sagara-san okay?” Tsubasa asked. The sight of Seiji frowning and making a small sigh to himself just broke Tsubasa’s heart break even further. Who cared what happened between Megumi and him when he looked so sad? But… it’d be weird to just go up to him and reveal she unintentionally eavesdropped on their conversation the other day (even if it was only fifteen seconds)?
“Sagara-kun will be okay. He’d known this day would come for a while and he just needs some time,” Yuko replied. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it if someone just talked to him like everything’s normal. He wouldn’t want people worrying over him too much.”
“Eh? What was that last part?” Tsubasa’s mind was already racing with the various possibilities. Did Yuko know something she didn’t?! Wait… she couldn’t be deliberately trying to pair her and Seiji together, could she? It wouldn’t make sense! Or maybe this was part of some other plot! She just seemed that smart!
Yuko didn’t give her an answer aside from a knowing smile.
Break time couldn’t come soon enough— Tsubasa’s thoughts were elsewhere the entire morning— with her unable to get the fact Seiji appeared to be sad out of her mind. When someone she cared about was feeling down, Tsubasa couldn’t help feeling down herself; it felt like something she couldn’t control.
She sat at her desk, various possibilities racing through her mind. If she said something that she overheard even a tiny bit of their conversation, she’d probably appear creepy. Like some sort of stalker! Making even the slightest insinuation that her interest went beyond simply wanting to be friends was out of the question too— he’d just gotten rejected yesterday. Just saying hello seemed less dangerous.
It took way too much effort to stand up and walk close to Seiji’s desk. Even then, she stood in a way that kept her classmate at arm’s length; her heart was already beating so fast that she worried she would die if she took even the slightest step closer. The only thing putting her at ease was the fact Yuko was there and could probably vouch for her if disaster struck. Megumi and Hime were there too which wasn’t surprising due to how close they seemed to be to Seiji.
“H-Hello there, you guys. How are you feeling?” Tsubasa asked, putting on a smile that was more for them than herself. They couldn’t know how anxious she actually was! And by addressing the whole group, she could hide the fact she was trying to talk to Seiji— she felt like she would fall down and perish if she dared specifically address him. But hey! She managed to start a conversation! Gotta celebrate the small victories.
Tsubasa heaved a sigh as she left the school grounds. It wasn’t because the conversation was disastrous or anything like that— it was quite mundane actually— but rather the fact she was on edge for the entirety of that break. She did her best to hide it behind one of one of her usual smiles but there was just this crippling fear that she would mess up and say something wrong, resulting in her being rejected by that friend group.
At least she survived.
The sound of something crashing came out of nowhere. Panicked screams followed seconds later; they reminded Tsubasa of what happened during a Saiark attack.
“Eh? But there shouldn’t be…” Was this noise caused by a Saiark? But how?! Pikarigaoka was supposed to be peaceful after the Happiness Charge stopped that red planet from destroying everything. At least, she expected it to be so for more than a month! Tsubasa’s hand trailed to her pocket; she would run over and see what was going on. This just had to be something mundane like a piece of a building collapsing or perhaps it was because something heavy got dropped. But if it was what she feared…
She gulped. No— she couldn’t just expect the Happiness Charge Precure to take care of it. For all she knew, people could be hurt. Her legs started moving before she could give herself a chance to have second thoughts.
What awaited her wasn’t a dropped heavy thing, a piece of building, or even a Saiark; it was this huge thing. It was humanoid just like the Phantom Empire’s monsters but in place of the usual sunglasses and scarf was this strange padlock. The closest thing it had to an eye was this glowing purple light in the middle of its ‘face’. This particular monster was dressed like a bride and brandished a bouquet like some sort of weapon.
“What is this thing?” Tsubasa questioned. No doubt that it was something that a Precure like her needed to take down but who would create such a thing in the first place?
“Huh. You must be this city’s Precure. I was told there would be more of you,” a young boy floating near the monster’s shoulder remarked. He wore some kind of hoodie with horns on top and held what looked to be a game console in his hands. His eyes were covered by his long chestnut red bangs; the only indication he was speaking to her specifically was the fact his head was turned in her direction. He looked and sounded rather… disappointed. But that wasn’t what caused Tsubasa to gasp in horror. Just to his right was a cage floating in the air, its captive being easy to see. Tsubasa could tell who it was just by seeing the hairstyle.
“Ishigami-san?!” Tsubasa exclaimed, her eyes going wide. Sure, this wasn’t something that should be shocking her, considering Saiarks were also made from people, but she hadn’t seen anything like this for over a month. Not only that, Ishigami was a classmate. Tsubasa knew what she had to do; she immediately pulled out her PreChan Mirror and PreCards. “I’m not sure who you are or what this monster you turned Ishigami-san into but I’m not going to let you do what you like with her! Precure Rolling Mirror Change!”
The boy didn’t seem terribly impressed as a warm light surrounded Tsubasa’s body.
“The wings of grace flying high! Cure Swan!” The introduction and the pose were like a compulsion she could rarely hold back. The boy smirked upon hearing her, though.
“So you’re Cure Swan, huh? The name’s Lock and I’m from DysDark. I’d say it’s nice to meet you but my Zetsuborg will clip your wings!” As if on cue, the monster pointed its weapon at Swan. The flowers shot out of the bouquet like missiles and Swan jumped to avoid them. However she was not fast enough to avoid the explosion the flowers caused when they crashed into the concrete.
“Kyah!” Swan cried out as the blast seared her legs, only being stopped from burning them beyond repair by her enhanced durability. Swan was thrown backwards, her back slamming into the metal wall behind her, only just barely missing the glass window to her left by a few centimeters. “Ow…” Swan whined as she slid downwards onto the floor.
“How pathetic! I didn’t expect to have roast bird for dinner tonight! I guess I must be lucky,” Lock taunted.
“How many bird jokes are you going to make in the next few minutes? They aren’t funny…” Cure Swan groaned as she slowly got herself to her feet. Her legs still felt like they burned and her back throbbed but she’d handled worse. There was no way she’d give up. Not while someone else was in trouble!
“Oh, would you prefer it if I compared you to the other Cures in town? Because you’re so weak I don’t think you’re associated with them. There’s no way the Precure who took down the Phantom Empire would have trouble with one monster,” Lock’s smirk widened as the Saiark fired another set of missiles. Swan flew forward to dodge but the result was the same. The only difference was that Swan slid across the pavement. Every single little bump slashed at her skin without drawing blood but still burning painfully. “Cure Swan, you’re just a fledgling who is in over her head.”
Each word out of Lock’s mouth was like a knife stabbing her in the heart. It was true; this was just one monster and she had yet to attack. All she’d been doing was getting hit. Was she really that weak? Swan pushed herself up to her feet but her movements were slower this time around. She didn’t want to give up, but should she? Swan put an arm on a part of her elbow that still burned from being sent skidding on the pavement, her gaze turning to Lock. The cage caught the corner of her eye.
Wait. No— she could not give up and just leave Ishigami to wander around as a giant monster for however long it would take for Cure Lovely and her friends to arrive here. What kind of Precure would she be if she didn’t at least try her best? She didn’t want to be a coward. She didn’t want to give Lock yet another reason to insult her as he hurt her classmate. Swan tuned his words out as she clenched her fists. She turned her attention back to the Zetsuborg. It was firing another round of missiles straight at her. Swan knew she couldn’t dodge.
“Swan Reflection!” She quickly spun the dial on her Love PreBrace and threw her hands in front of herself. A circular shield with a wing insignia in the middle shot out from those outstretched hands just in time to intercept the flower missiles. The missiles didn’t explode when they made contact with the shield— they were absorbed. Swan’s body briefly tensed up as she used her power to convert the flowers into energy. Energy which shot out at the same speed as the missiles charged at her just moments before.
“Zetsu?!” the monster exclaimed just before the energy hit it straight in the face. Swan didn’t give it any breathing room before firing a Swan Sparkling Cannon that slammed into its torso. The bow on her lower back once again took in energy to expand into a pair of glowing white wings used to fly straight towards the Zetsuborg as she prepared her fists. And then, in one mostly coordinated move, the Zetsuborg’s torso suffered a flurry of quick but powerful punches.
“Haah!” Swan cried out as she slammed her fist into the monster’s firm, jelly-like skin for the final time.
“Zetsu… borg…” the monster stumbled over onto its back and didn’t get back up. Swan exhaled as she landed on the ground— it was time to finish this.
“Light of grace, become holy power! Love PreBrace!” Swan could feel Lock’s gaze on her as she began calling out her attack. It was like he was studying her. But she had other things to worry about right now— such as rescuing Ishigami! “Precure Aqua Windy Shoot!”
Although it had a different name, it turned out Zetsuborgs reacted to her purification just like a Saiark, floating in the air and all. “Grace, return to the heavens!”
“So relaxing…” The Zetsuborg closed its eye before being engulfed in sparkles and disappearing.
Lock seemed nonplussed as the cage containing Ishigami floated to the ground near Cure Swan.
“Huh. You had more fight in you than I expected. Not that it matters, though. I learned plenty about your kind of Cure. Also… you don’t appear to have a key,” Lock smirked as he said that last part. “Good luck rescuing your friend from that cage. I would love to stick around and see you struggle but I have more important things to attend to. Later!” Lock vanished, presumably teleporting like pretty much every other bad guy general ever. Why did being evil come with the ability to teleport? Swan frowned. This was not something worth pondering when Ishigami was still stuck unconscious in that weird cage!
“Hmm…” Swan eyed a padlock on the cage’s door that looked like the one that’d been on the Zetsuborg’s face. It was obvious that unlocking it would free the victim the normal way but as Lock oh so helpfully pointed out… Swan was sorely lacking in keys. So, Swan spent the next ten minutes fruitlessly trying to break the cage itself through increasingly absurd means. She even tried saying “open sesame”!
In the end, it turned out that brute force and a little Precure magic worked on the padlock just as well as a key.
“Huh. I wasn’t expecting that to— Whoa!” Swan was cut off from her remark by Ishigami abruptly falling straight onto her as the cage dissolved. Swan stumbled back, only just barely avoiding an embarrassing fall onto her back as she grabbed onto her classmate. She stabilized herself and caught her breath. Ishigami was so limp, too; she was surprisingly still unconscious. Swan gently set her onto the ground to let her rest. She let out a sigh. Should she just fly away? Her duty was done so there was no reason to stick around. But if she did that, Ishigami would likely wake up all alone… Swan didn’t want that.
Swan undid her transformation with a white pop of light before sitting by Ishigami’s side. Thankfully, she only had to do so for ten minutes or so.
“Mizuno-san…?” Ishigami groaned as her eyes blinked open. She sounded surprised but Tsubasa couldn’t blame her.
“Ishigami-san! Thank goodness! I saw you passed out and I didn’t know what to do!” Tsubasa knew she was technically lying but what else was she supposed to do?
“Ah, really? I must have forgotten to hydrate… or something like that. Sorry to worry you,” Ishigami sighed before sitting up. “You know, I just had the strangest dream. I could have sworn I saw that strange Precure. She was that one with the ballerina-like shoes and skirt. I don’t know her name but she was strong!”
“O-oh, that’s interesting…” Tsubasa hesitated to say anything more. She didn’t want to give Ishigami any hints to her identity through her incompetence, after all.
“Anyway, I’m sure you’re aware of recent events.” Ishigami put a hand on Tsubasa’s shoulder as her gaze became one of determination. “Mizuno-san… may the best woman win.”
“Ehhh??” Tsubasa blinked. When did the subject change? And what was she competing with Ishigami for?! She did not give any clarification.
Red stumbled into his Cross Mirror Room, gripping his head. Planet Red had enjoyed a quiet month as he worked to restore it alongside Blue and Mirage. But lately… there was this presence. This thing that Red couldn’t see but he could feel it growing, festering. And if left alone, it was bound to endanger both his planet and Earth.
But even worse, whatever this thing was, it was affecting him. It started out small. Blue being Blue was naturally annoying. Red brushed off the jabs he began throwing his younger brother’s way as simple sibling rivalry. But… the jabs evolved into insults and the insults became an urge to just lunge at him and hurt him. If Red hadn’t retreated to his Cross Mirror Room just now, he wasn’t sure what horrible thing he would have done to his younger brother.
How could Blue be so useless?! Perhaps Red should have seen it coming when Blue offered to come help him. He didn’t understand how it felt to have a planet reduced to a desert while his planet was still blue and full of life—
Wait. No! How was he falling back into that mindset?! Something was so horribly, terribly wrong and the pit in Red’s stomach only grew bigger with each passing day. He could lose control at any moment now. It’d just take one outburst. And with Blue and Mirage so close…
No. Like hell he’d let that happen.